OPINION:
Coming on the heels of his Venezuela triumph — access to the world’s largest known oil reserves — President Trump’s Greenland deal caps his status as one of history’s great dealmakers.
Initially, the president spoke of the United States taking over the world’s largest island. That led to accusations of gunboat diplomacy. Mr. Trump’s critics missed his modus operandi, which usually starts with the big ask and then settles for something more modest and achievable.
Although all the details have yet to be worked out, the envisioned agreement will involve the U.S., Denmark and Greenland, which is currently Danish territory.
The agreement gives America military access to Greenland in perpetuity — that is, even if it one day achieves independence. Today, America has a modest military presence in Greenland, which is likely to increase substantially under the deal and could include a naval base and an extension of the Golden Dome missile shield.
Greenland’s strategic importance cannot be overstated. Control of Greenland affects control of the Arctic. Whoever controls the Arctic will probably win a future world war. Greenland also controls vital shipping lanes.
Russia and China have increasingly focused on achieving military access to Greenland, which would be a blow to American national security. A tripartite agreement would also give the United States access to Greenland’s rich mineral deposits, which include estimated rare earth element reserves of up to 36 million metric tons, according to geological assessments compiled by the Atlantic Council.
The deal is a win all the way around. Denmark could never hope to defend the territory from a hostile takeover bid. Greenland is vital to America’s security interests, and Greenlanders need help extracting their valuable mineral reserves.
As important as getting America in is keeping Russia and China out.
There can be no doubt of the hostile intentions of either nation. According to U.S. intelligence reports and defense analysts, both have shared satellite navigation and military intelligence with Iran during the current conflict and delivered weapons systems to it in the past.
Russia has been at war with Ukraine continuously since its full-scale invasion of February 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin has also given every indication that Ukraine is not the end of his territorial ambitions.
Under President Xi Jinping, China has moved aggressively to assert dominance over Asia and undermine America’s traditional allies, such as Taiwan and the Philippines.
For either hostile power to secure a foothold in Greenland would be disastrous. Mr. Trump’s masterful deal precludes that.
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